


this pink sky and your green eyes

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, niall and t. swift are best friends, niall's very cynical, possible angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-09 09:55:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3245345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Niall meets Harry at a wedding and they proceed to awkwardly date even if Harry doesn’t do anything but smoke and walk his five dogs (yes five) around Central Park and Niall’s just super emotionally unavailable. They just have lots of feelings.</p><p>--</p><p>“I don’t know. You could meet some weird boy on a rooftop and fall in love with him.” </p><p>“Thank god I don’t believe in love then hmm?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm terrible with multi-chapter stories, either i finish them in two years or i don't finish at all. either way i hope you like this, is it obvious that a sixteen year old black girl who spends too much time on tumblr and twitter wrote this?

Niall really liked alcohol. He really liked that even though he was on his seventh flute of champagne alcohol could not judge him not like Maureen from IT was currently judging him or Sammi, Taylor’s long lost cousin who was also the bridesmaids was staring at him. Was it his fault that he hated weddings? Was it his fault that Taylor decided that it would be just wonderful, magical, and terrific to invite him to this westernized idea of love? He didn’t care about Taylor’s extended family and their weird country music and fucking caviar like what kind of pretentious asshole has caviar at their wedding?

Was he bitter? A bit but did he have every right? Yes. Because Taylor may have been his best and only friend at work but when he said “Tay, I don’t like weddings” why couldn’t she just take his word for it instead of bursting into tears and telling Niall he had to come. He was so glad Taylor’s husband had the best man seat taken care of because if he had to get a suit tailored to fit Taylor’s needs he’d probably die.

He was aware that he was the only person not dancing well aside from the little kids who were hiding under tables and generally being really fucking weird because kids man but he didn’t dance hell no. He didn’t waltz, he didn’t Macarena, he didn’t whip. He found dancing ridiculous and the people who did it for fun ridiculous and the people who did it for money well what the fuck?

He caught Taylor’s eyes over the dance floor, she was glaring at him and he knew when she came back from her Honeymoon in two weeks she would chew him out then punch him in the face. He was so not here for this and he honestly needed to get out of there, the ballroom he meant not the whole goddamn place. Even for Niall that was rude and Niall was the king of super rude and super inappropriate. Like that time he told his brother’s fiancée that she was getting fat but he hadn’t meant it in a rude way just in a statement way like if she was getting skinny he would’ve been like, “Wow, Suz you’re really getting skinny” but anyways surprise surprise she wasn’t fat she was pregnant.

Niall hated people.

He took another flute of champagne from the server wandering around and stood up, the world spun a little and he caught his footing really quick. Okay so he was tipsy. Being tipsy was way better than being sober for this bullshit; he was good tipsy he was earthly and good. Niall walked up the grand ballroom stairs, tried not to look anybody in the eye, tried not to look too grossed at Taylor’s parents making out. Weren’t they like seventy? Did seventy year olds still make out? Niall hoped whoever he decided to sadly marry and ruin his whole entire life with didn’t want to make out when they were seventy. Isn’t seventy the age someone gets ready for death? Goes to Florida and vacations for no reason and shows off their flashy cars?

The ballroom stairs led to another floor which led to another floor until Niall was on the roof.

Niall had this weird tendency to end up on roofs for no apparent reason especially at weird functions like this where everybody was weirdly happy as if feeding off each other’s vibes. It was so creepy in Niall’s opinion like thanks, Taylor thank you for making us all realize how miserable and single we are with your happiness and you’re not single-ness. She’d probably be popping out babies in a year or two and Niall just could not deal with that because knowing Taylor she’d want him to babysit and kids were so fucking lazy like damn get a job already right?

Niall was too busy internal monologuing to realize oh wow someone was smoking a cigarette and currently staring at him. Someone who was ridiculously tall with ridiculously long legs that made Niall stare at them suspiciously. They did not look like real people legs, like could someone’s legs even be that long? Was this all a figment of Niall’s weird tipsy imagination?

“Uh… hello?” The weird legged human said to him. Niall looked up and thought: green eyes how original then he wanted to punch himself in the face. He took a sip of his champagne.

“So like what’s up with your legs?” Niall asked pointing to the boy’s knobby knees. Well he wasn’t really a boy more like a very tall man-child, he still had that face like he wasn’t sure if he was done growing up or not. Cute, Niall thought bitterly all cute boys were full of shit. If Niall could he’d write a song about it.

You’re full of shit fuck you with number one hit all boys are fuckboys.

“What about my legs?” The man-child asked, took a hit of his cigarette. Niall stared at the amber tip.

“They’re ridiculously long. Can I have a cigarette?” Niall didn’t even smoke. He just wanted that experience, he was boring. He lived in an expensive apartment in Greenwich Village and his parents sent him money every week so he could write in peace but honestly all he did was blog about shitty things and it got critiqued by shitty people. Maybe he needed excitement in his life like smoking a cigarette with a stranger.

“I think my legs are proportional to my body. And sure.”

Niall watched as the boy fumbled for the cigarette pack in his back pocket. A piece of paper fell out. Niall bent down to get it, the boy bent down at the same time. Their foreheads collided and Niall fell back on his back and groaned. He dropped his champagne glass; he could feel champagne seeping through his dyed blonde hair. It was a ridiculously starless night. That sounded like the beginning of a story.

“Oh my god, are you okay?”

Oh yeah he wasn’t alone.

“Uh… not really.” He took hold of the man-child’s hand which was ridiculously soft like why were they so soft? Like they were almost like a baby’s bottom or what he thought was a baby’s bottom he’d never actually touched one, the few times his brother let him babysit Theo he never changed his diaper. Maybe that was why he didn’t babysit Theo anymore.

“Your hair is wet.” The man-child flicked the tip of his hair. Champagne went everywhere.

“Your forehead’s red.” Niall said pointing to the man-child’s forehead.

“Yours is too. I can’t tell how red though… it’s dark.”

“You’re very observant.” Niall said in a dry tone as he touched his forehead.

“Here’s your cigarette.” Man-child handed him the cigarette. Niall didn’t even want it anymore. His head hurt, he was slightly tipsy, and he had wet hair. Niall took it anyway but didn’t say thank you just because. Who says thank you when someone gives them a cigarette anyway? Thank you for potentially ruining my lungs you stupid fucking idiot. Or maybe Niall was just judgmental whatever. “Want a light?”

The man-child asked when Niall stuck it in his mouth. Niall shook his head,

“I’m Augustus Waters. It’s a metaphor. The metaphor is my life is a fucking mess.”

“That’s not a metaphor that’s just sad.”

“Well how would you fucking know?”

“Uhm,” the boy said slowly licking his lips and raising his eyebrow, “because I know what a metaphor is. Do you?”

“A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.” Niall recited like a robot. The boy snorted out a laugh,

“Thanks, Merriem.”

“Wow, you made a funny. Do you feel good about yourself?”

“You look like a pretentious asshat with an unlit cigarette hanging from your mouth.”

“Thanks for the memo, chief I’ll be sure to put that on my next job application.”

The boy sighed then said, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh by all means please don’t apologize. I hate apologies. This is why the world is the way it is because people apologize too much like why are you apologizing to me? Maybe I am a pretentious asshat.”

The boy blinked at him then laughed a little, “You’re very strange.”

Niall shrugged, “maybe but you were on this roof first… did you crash my best friend’s wedding?” Did Niall really just refer to Taylor as his best friend without her ordering him too? He hated himself.  

“I’m your best friend’s ex.”

Niall laughed, “Well that’s fucking idiotic… are you still heartbroken about it? Did she stomp on your heart then eat it like Megan Fox did in Jennifer’s Body?”

“Uhm not quite.” The boy said.

“Which ex are you?”

“I’m Harry.”

Niall let out a loud laugh and shook his head, “you have five dogs!”

Harry blushed, “yup that’s me.”

“Oh my gosh. Taylor used to talk about you all the time!”

“Really? What’d she say?”

“She said that you loved your dogs more than you loved humans.”

“It’s not exactly a lie. My dogs are really cool.”

“What are they called?” Niall asked and just like that Harry was pulling his phone from his back pocket. He then shoved a picture in Niall’s face and there it was five dogs all sleeping on a bed. Oh god, Niall thought to himself, this kid was a fucking psycho. He pointed to a French bulldog,

“That’s Marissa, the golden retriever is Brooklyn, the Yorkie is Samuel, the poodle is Alana, and the German Shepard is Agnes.”

Niall let out a hollering laugh felt his whole body trembling with it. “Oh my god.” He said.

“What?” Harry asked looking a bit hurt.

“Your dogs have human names. You named your Yorkshire Terrier Samuel.”

“Was I supposed to name it coffee?”

“Do you talk to your dogs?” Niall asked him.

“Yes.” Harry replied shamelessly making Niall laugh even harder. Oh god maybe it was all the champagne in his system or the nicotine fumes but god this was the funniest fucking night he’d had in a long time and he was in a roof in the middle of New York City with some random kid who used to date his best friend. “Are you Niall?” Harry asked when Niall was finished laughing loudly.

“Why?” Niall asked him.

“Taylor used to talk about a Niall all the time. Blonde, a little short but not too short, cynical.”

“I am not-, okay yeah that was me.” Niall said with a small shrug. He’d like to pretend that he wasn’t cynical and that he woke up every morning with a smile on his face and a positive attitude but he was wonderfully misanthropic and the world sucked. Give him a break.

“The way she described you I’m surprised you’re even laughing.”

“I laugh.”

“She said that she’s never seen you laugh but you’re wonderfully blunt and great to take shopping.”

“Taylor wanted a gay best friend and I was available. I could’ve been the worst at giving advice and she would’ve loved me.” Niall shrugged then said, “Why’d you ditch the party? Taylor’s cousins are all so… pushy. Don’t all straight men love that?”

“I’m not a straight man.” Harry said then pocketed his phone. “And pushy girls are nice sometimes.”

“What are you?” Niall asked.

“I don’t label.” Harry replied and Niall made a face,

“Well… that’s pretentious.”

“Oh really?”

“Really. Do you like girls or boys?”

“Both. But there are so many branches to that. Like there’s bisexuality but I don’t feel like that’s me and I’m just trying to figure myself out.”

Niall scoffed, “So you’re water.”

“What?”

“Fluid. You’re water, you flow.” Niall wondered what the hell was wrong with him.

“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I hate labels.”

“What would you do without labels on food? Probably perish from lack of info that’s what.”

“Perish. Nice word.”

“It means to die.”

“I know what perish means.”

“Whatever.” Niall grumbled and then there was an awkward silence. He didn’t even know what to say to this kid anymore. If he was even really a kid. “How old are you?”

“Twenty four.” Harry said almost immediately as if he was just waiting for that exact question.

“You look seven.” Niall said and Harry laughed, dipping his head back and all. He had lots of freckles on his neck and he had an acne scar on his chin. And when he looked back at Niall he had a few acne scars on his cheek too but it wasn’t unattractive or anything it was just very very human and Niall really liked it. Niall was sure that if he was a photographer Harry’s acne scars would be the first thing he photographed, his bitten down fingernails second.

“How old are you?” Harry asked him.

“Twenty four.”

“You look forty five.” Harry replied and Niall scoffed,

“Well at least I don’t look like a wannabe rock star. Do you even wash your hair?”

“At least I don’t dye my hair like a twelve year old girl.”

“At least I can move in my jeans.”

“At least I actually smoke my cigarettes.”

“Wow, lung cancer how carpe diem of you.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

He and Harry laughed. It felt refreshing to laugh and be a fucking idiot without being judged for it. His mom called him every week and asked him if he had his life together yet if he was married or seeing anyone and ready to go back to Boston but nope Niall wasn’t, he worked a shitty office job that he only went to when he was extra bored and he’d been writing one book for two fucking years. He felt like a failure but at least he had a turtle and Netflix and Hulu and the gay couple next door Zayn and Liam who were always inviting him to weird things not like orgy weird but come pick apples with us weird. Like it was the twenty first century who actually picked their own apples unironically?

“Wanna go back down there?” Harry asked him.

“Hell no.”

“Same.”

\--

“Uh can I have your number?” Harry asked. It was one in the morning. They knew the reception was over; they’d left the roof about an hour ago. Walked around New York City for a little bit but not drifting too far because he had a car and Harry had a fucking bicycle because of course he did. When he asked Harry if he was an environmentalist Harry told him that the environment was a conspiracy created by the government to get us to stop eating real food.

Niall was sure he’d met his soul mate. And now they were back in front of the country club, Niall was leaning on his car. Everybody was gone and it was really really dark. Thank god he didn’t have work tomorrow. It was Sunday; Liam would probably ask if he wanted to go to church with him. Niall would deny. Church was something Niall did when he was eight and his mother thought that he was going to marry a nice catholic girl and get rich and have a nice catholic family. Now on Sundays he watched gay porn, fed his turtle, and watched endless amounts of Netflix.

“You know if you go to the state appraisal you can find my phone number and my address and you could basically stalk me?” Niall asked Harry. Harry blinked at him then said slowly,

“I did not. Do you want me to stalk you? I’ll stalk the shit out of you.”

“I mean not at the moment but if this doesn’t work out then you can totally stalk me. Have your five dogs follow me around like an all dog gang, they can snap and sing like the T-Birds.”

“Pop quiz: which was better Grease or Grease 2?”

“I’d say Grease but Michelle Pfeiffer is a queen even though Grease 2 is so bad it’s laughable.”

“Marry me.” Harry said with exaggerated moon eyes. Niall laughed,

“I’m tipsy as hell.”

“Are you sure you can drive?”

“Of course. One time I drank two eight packs and I drove from Queens to Manhattan perfectly fine.”

“Uh,”

“I also got a DUI but that’s beside the point. The point is I made it out alive and I only had like six drinks.”

“Are you a lightweight?”

“I’m fucking Irish.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“If you still want my number you won’t ask that question again.” Harry shut up and Niall laughed. It was so dark and he was laughing so much. He felt out of control. He felt stupid and eighteen and falling in love for the first time with the first boy who broke his heart. He hated thinking about that boy because Niall was so foolish to think that boy would stick around and they’d get married and he’d stick up to Niall’s parents and they’d adopt some fat ass kids and have a good ass family but no. Niall hated that boy.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked pressing the tab of his finger beneath Niall’s eye. “Eyelash.” He said showing Niall his finger and Niall nodded slowly and then recited his number slowly. Harry’s eyes reminded Niall of a tadpole habitat… it wasn’t bad or anything.

“Are you from Boston?” Harry asked him.

“Massachusetts born and raised. I dropped out of Harvard.” Fucking word vomit making Niall say things he hated disclosing with people. Harry raised an eyebrow,

“You went to Harvard?”

“Yes but then I decided I wanted to write a book and live in New York. I’m living the dream.”

“You really are.” Harry said like he actually meant it. Sincere boys, man they could really fuck you up had you thinking they wanted to be with you always and shit. Niall’d dealt with one had fell for one. He hated himself for being tipsy and vulnerable and so so open, he didn’t want Harry to bury his self into Niall. Niall wanted to be Niall completely and utterly unattached. He didn’t date, he didn’t crush, and he wasn’t that kind of person.

He wondered how Taylor did it.

“I’m going home now.” Niall said and Harry pushed himself off Niall’s car. He’d been bracketing Niall’s shoulders with his arms.

“Stay safe.” Harry said and Niall snorted,

“I live in The Village what could possibly happen to me.”

“I don’t know. You could meet some weird boy on a rooftop and fall in love with him.”

“Thank god I don’t believe in love then hmm?” Niall asked then slipped into his car.


	2. two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s a big park.” 
> 
> “I’ll find you… always will.”

Niall woke up, his mouth tasted like ass and his head was throbbing. He was still in his stupid rented suit and his too small dress shoes were still on and he was buried under endless amounts of bed sheets. Sun was streaming through his window creating light beams on his skin and he was starving and he was sure his breath smelled rank. He thought about last night. He thought about the boy, curly hair smoke curling into the air. Niall wanted to punch himself in the face, since when did he fall into boys so fast? Boys were quicksand and he’d learned that early on so why the hell had he done last night? It felt like the beginning of something but Niall wasn’t even sure what.

He groaned like he was in immense amounts of pain and then rolled off his bed, feet hitting the carpeted floor. Made his way to his bathroom brushed his teeth like a zombie a robot kept thinking about how Harry was the first friend he’d made in a while. Zayn and Liam had lived on the floor before Niall and he wouldn’t even classify them as friends more like those guys who lived on the same floor and always wanted Niall to go with them to places and Taylor had taken him under her wing immediately after he moved to the city. He hadn’t known he had the capability of even making friends for himself. If Harry was even a friend. Maybe Harry wouldn’t call, maybe he wouldn’t text. Maybe Niall needed to stop being such a damn over thinker.

He took a shower shook off the wedding, the champagne, the dolled up people, and most of all Harry. He shook off the cigarette smell and the grassy eyes and the pink lips and the champagne seeping into his hair, Harry’s explosive smile. Niall had read somewhere that when people fell in love they burst into flames, he was flame-retardant.

His turtle, Jasper, was in a peaceful slumber when Niall observed him in his cage. Niall poked it; the turtle retreated further into his shell.

“Sorry, Jas,” Niall muttered proceeding to feed the thing. He was happy that he hadn’t decided to get a cat or a dog or something like that and goldfish had always seemed too… boring for him but he liked Jasper. Sometimes when he was bored he’d take Jasper out of his cage and he’d lay on his bed and have Jasper lie on his tummy and he’d read to him whatever he was reading that week. Dogs demanded too much and cats reminded him too much of himself.

Niall wanted to desperately say that his morning went by in a blur but it seemed to crawl like glue, slow and he wanted to say that he wasn’t waiting for a text or maybe even a call but he was and it made his stomach hurt whatever the hell he was doing to himself. No matter how many times he watched Clueless on Netflix he kept thinking and thinking of that boy and his cupid’s boy and his stupid goofy grin. Niall wanted to throw up, had thought his liking to Harry was a side effect of the alcohol but no liking Harry was just a side effect to being out of his mind.

And then it happened. It was two in the afternoon. Niall was watching YouTube videos and monitoring how many people had read his blog post when his phone chimed with a text. He looked down at it.

_Did you make it home safe without falling in love with someone?_

No, Niall thought but he just smiled because damn that boy was charming knew just what to say to make Niall smile. Niall didn’t like small talk found it unnerving and stupid, he didn’t like Heys and to be honest he hated texting felt it so impersonal. That was why he decided to call right after and then he had a split second thought like: how about if it wasn’t even Harry and then he thought who else could’ve even texted him Harry’s dogs?

“You know you could’ve just texted me back?” Harry drawled and Niall felt himself combust. He bit the inside of his lip hard tasted copper,

“I could’ve but I didn’t. And sorry no I fell in love. We’re planning our wedding right now.”

“What’s his name?” Harry asked slight laughter in his voice.

“Paul Rudd.” Niall said and then wanted to face palm.

“Niall,” Harry said his name like he was praying, he said it the way a Catholic would say “amen” and Niall felt his throat close up with the sheer force of a boy, “have you been watching Clueless?”

“Maybe. Being trapped in The Village gets boring.”

“I’m sure.” Harry said like he didn’t even believe him. “Come to Central Park.”

Niall blinked at the sudden change of conversation, “what?”

“Take a cab to Central Park c’mon.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m there and I want you to be there.”

“You don’t even know me.” Niall said and then felt stupid. Wasn’t the whole point of being a writer to do stupid things and get that experience and here he was shying away from a semi-cute semi-crazy boy with five dogs who wanted him to come to Central Park. He should’ve been jumping at the idea but he hadn’t had an actual conversation with someone he liked in such a long time and he felt like he was living in this warped reality where Niall Horan talked to boys and acted normal. He felt like he was in a plastic bag turning blue by the second.

“Does it matter? Nobody knows anybody in Central Park.” Harry was practically crooning into his ear, plucking him like a guitar.

“I don’t go to Central Park.” Niall said.

“Why?”

“Lots and lots of people pretending to be really really happy.”

“I like that. I could make a song out of that.”

“Credit me.”

“Of course.” Long pause in which Niall thought about what the hell he was doing, phone to his ear and staring up at the ceiling like a teenage girl. He felt like he was having some weird out of body experience or some weird body morph, maybe some teenage girl across the country just got his personality but nope he could still feel the underlying cynic the thought of why the hell should he humor this boy so that said boy could break his heart like a certain other boy Niall had been madly in love with? Yeah no thanks. “So you coming?”

“I don’t know. I have lots to do.” No he didn’t. He thought about his half-finished story, collecting dust in his laptop.

“No you don’t.” Harry said like he knew all of Niall’s secrets.

“I do.”

“No, you don’t. C’mon I’m persistent.”

“I’m stubborn. Mom used to call me a Mule.”

Harry snorted out a laugh Niall wanted to see his face when he laughed like that. “Cute. I have my dogs with me.”

“You have your dogs with you right now?”

“Yes.”

“I’m already meeting your dogs? Is that like meeting the parents?”

“Yeah except they have four legs. My parents not the dogs.” Niall laughed and Harry chuckled, “Nice to know I still got it.”

“I’m laughing because I pity you.”

“C’mon that was funny.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie you think I’m funny.”

“Looking. Funny looking.” Harry _was_ funny looking but in the best way.

“C’mon, Niall,”

“C’mon, Niall what?”

“Come to the park. Brooklyn really wants to meet you.”

“Is that a metaphor?”

“Niall!” Harry said ever persistent and Niall sighed stared up at his ceiling. Meeting a guy at Central Park didn’t mean anything, they were acquaintances if even. So what if Harry was cute and he made Niall all tongue tied made him feel like his whole body was on fire it didn’t even mean a thing. Niall had felt like that plenty of times. He was fine everything was fine. If he said yes it didn’t mean anything he wasn’t giving up and this would give him great material for his story maybe Franny would finally tell Donald how she felt.

“Fine.” Niall said long sufferingly and Harry laughed giddy and like a child,

“Yes! I’ll be waiting.”

“It’s a big park.”

“I’ll find you… always will.”


	3. three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Lots of things exist that you didn’t know about.” 
> 
> “Like what?” Niall asked him letting Harry slip his soft soft hands into Niall’s rough nervous sweaty ones and lead him towards the dogs. 
> 
> “Like me.”

Niall wasn’t very bright was known for only absorbing things he wanted to and things he cared about and leaving the truly important parts behind  but one thing he’d learned and actually kept from his experience with beautiful boys was that they never ever keep their promises. It may have been a cynical thought but it was out of good reason, they tended to say one thing and turn around and do something else leaving Niall confused and waiting for something that was really never going to happen. So he was left looking like a fool.

So he was surprised when after about two minutes in Central Park looking for a curly haired boy with five dogs he heard his name being called loudly and yup there he was, Harry in jogging pants and a flimsy white t-shirt and his trusty dogs. Niall couldn’t help the stupid silly laugh that bubbled out of him, knew he was red in the face but he blamed it on the humidity and heat not anything else.

Harry began walking towards him letting the dogs be his guide and Niall had a split second panic, he didn’t know what to do in these situations. Did he and Harry hug? Did they shake hands? Did they have a weird handshake thing? Niall couldn’t very well pretend he hadn’t seen Harry the whole point of him being in this overrated place anyway was because of Harry. He hated the universe and the status quo of having friends and interacting with people, he liked staying home and eating ramen and watching How I Met Your Mother reruns and he had no qualms about it.

“Hey, Spacey.” Harry said when he stopped in front of Niall and Niall pulled himself from his own mind.

“Spacey?”

“Yeah you’re all spaced out or whatever.”

“I’m always spaced out.”

Something tugged on Niall’s leg. He looked down. A white poodle: Alana, Niall’s mind supplied was tugging on his pant leg and growling a little but it wasn’t a bad growling more like a friendly growling if that even existed.

“Alana really likes people.” Harry said bending down a little. The dogs swarmed him immediately as if they had a petting sensor. Niall felt the ice around his heart thaw a little just watching Harry with a whole bunch of dogs and then he pushed those thoughts away quickly, squashed them and buried them. It was not cute. Harry picked up Alana who yipped a little, “wanna hold her?” He asked Niall, looked at him with those big sincere green eyes of his.

“Do you want me to hold her?”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a confused eyebrow raised, “that’s why I offered.”

Niall rolled his eyes and took the poodle didn’t really know how to hold it. Alana flew out of his arms and he jumped back. Harry laughed out loud, a low timbre that seeped through Niall’s bones and made him feel warm all over,

“Why are you so tense?”

“I’m not tense.” Niall grumbled not meeting Harry’s eyes looking at the other dogs. Samuel was lying down near Harry’s feet while Brooklyn looked like she was ready to start running off in another direction and Agnes was eyeing the other dogs with their dog owners.

“You are. Look at you. You can’t even look me in the eye.”

Niall dragged his eyes from the dogs to Harry’s smug face and his dimpled cheeks, “I think your dogs wanna go home.”

Harry looked down at them and shook his head, “Nope just Sammy but Sammy loves me. He’s tiny but he’s also full grown, I love him. I think the other dogs get jealous because they can sense I like Sam better.” As Harry spoke he bent down to scoop up Sam into his arms and then he looked at Niall again. “Do you wanna hold him without dropping him?”

“I did not drop Alana.”

“You totally dropped Alana.” Harry said but he was grinning showing off straight white picket fence teeth all lined up in a row, an orthodontist’s nightmare. But he was gorgeous Niall was not the type of person to blatantly lie, Harry probably was just one of those people who breezed through high school on his good looks and his charm probably played some ridiculously jock-y sport and dated a ridiculously pretty girl and they promised themselves to each other. It just seemed to fit, the hidden cockiness under his smile and the way he was so so sure of himself no kid who’d been bullied or who’d been ignored had confidence like that. “You’re doing it again.” Harry said laughing at him softly.

“Sorry sorry.” Niall apologized then reached for Samuel slowly and when he did land in Niall’s arms he didn’t jump off. He was cute, looked up at Niall with doe brown eyes like Niall held the whole world in his arms.

“Cute kid.” Niall said and Harry snorted out a laugh,

“Funny.”

“Hilarious.”

“Comedic.”

“Laugh out loud funny.”

“Okay you win.” Harry said and Niall smiled and shrugged,

“I’m used to winning.” Even though he wasn’t not even a little bit. “Are we going to stand here all day or what?”

“You wanna sit on a bench and talk about how the government is a lie and how media is just propaganda and we’re all basically living in a dictatorship but we’re too brainwashed to realize?”

“Yes please.” Niall said with a grin.

\--

An hour.

Niall had spent an hour in Central Park. Out of all his years living in the city he’d never even been out on the town for that long without complaining but with Harry time seemed to not even be a factor, slipping by him so easily. It didn’t even exist when he was with Harry and when it did it just reminded Niall that he wasn’t Cinderella this wasn’t the ball and he had all the time in the world. But between him and Cinderella he did feel like he was under a spell.

Harry had let go of the leashes on his dogs let them run around and him and Niall had sat on the bench with Harry’s arm slung around Niall’s shoulder nonchalantly as if they’d been doing this their whole lives. And god Harry looked like a fucking solar nebula like the big bang he looked like everything. Looking at Harry made Niall’s stomach hurt made him feel like he was eating glass and he was just upchucking blood every few minutes. But in a completely good way. Painfully good. The kind of good that you knew would break your heart anyway.

And they seemed to talk about everything and nothing, shooting the breeze or whatever kids said nowadays Niall didn’t know. Harry’s last name was Styles, he was from California, Orange County to be exact and he had a degree in communications but he worked in a vet’s office, and he had moved to New York on a bet. He told Niall that he’d gotten all his dogs from animal shelters and he couldn’t bear to see them hurt making Niall wonder if he was even real like what factory had Harry come from?

“So tell me about you then.” Harry had said when he had finished talking, looking at Niall making Niall want to tell all his secrets and Harry may have been beautiful but Niall didn’t like disclosing things especially things with a boy like that.

_Image: boy watching boy watching him._

“There’s nothing to tell. I answer the phone, I live in the village, and I have a turtle named Jasper.”

“Why Jasper?” Harry asked and Niall snorted,

“Twilight.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I was in love with Jasper Hale.”

“You’re an enigma.”

“Yeah?” Niall asked and Harry nodded slowly tongue flickering out to lick his pink pink lips. “How’s that?”

“You’re all cynical and whatnot but then you love Twilight and Jasper Hale and you watch Clueless… and you know what I think?” Harry asked him and Niall raised an eyebrow,

“What do you think?”

“I think that you’re not really cynical you’re just… you’re different you’re like a puzzle wrapped around a boy.”

Niall snorted out a laugh, “what does that even mean?”

“It means that beneath all that I hate everyone façade of yours you’re just a really really beautiful boy and- god this isn’t coming out right.” Harry said burying his face in his hands with a small laugh. Niall shook his head slowly didn’t want to admit that Harry made him feel like he was being reborn like he was going through a metamorphosis just being next to him.

_Image: the butterfly fights its way out of the cocoon._

“It’s okay, you’re a communications major not a writer.”

“I can be a writer if you want me to be a writer.” Harry said and Niall rolled his eyes good naturedly,

“Shut up. Let’s go find your dogs, I’m starving.”

“You want to eat a pizza cone?”

Niall quirked an eyebrow, “that exists?”

“Lots of things exist that you didn’t know about.”

“Like what?” Niall asked him letting Harry slip his soft soft hands into Niall’s rough nervous sweaty ones and lead him towards the dogs.

“Like me.”

Niall bit his shoulder and ignored the moon eyes Harry shot him.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i like recommend a book for you guys? I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson, I'm not even done with it but its painful and so wonderful and oh my god it's like only 10 dollars on ibooks check it out.

**Author's Note:**

> whadya think?


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